"How do I redeem the GSO 4.1?"

Seriously though, Gary and I emailed before/during and after his test and I have nothing but respect for his eval and opinions. I did want to throw out a few pics and thoughts on my take on the knife along with my other main knives.

Here some basic fuzz sticks, stake making and notching.

GSO- for me, very easy to use an has good control. I can go from fine shavings to taking big bites easily. Struggled more making the notch for some reason

Howling Rat- does it all well. Did very well notch making...I think it's the grind

Koyote LBK- fuhgettaboutit...does it all well, super easy.

WInkler Belt Knife- thick behind the edge, but does a good job shaving wood. The thick edge and slight recurve made the notch harder for me to get.



Making bigger wood into smaller wood! AKA batonning!

All did great. The Koyote may not look like much, but that wood had some crazy knots. I beat that 1/8" thick stock like crazy...knives don't have to be 1/4" to perform well! Edges held up great on all of them.



After the fact, I did some more fuzz sticks and all did well. For me, the more I use the Survive, the more impressed I am by it.



Saw this youngster on the way in...had a sibling who strolled off the trail.



Took them all for spin in the kitchen to prep a stir fry. Besides the WInkler, they were all pretty close...some knives did better on some veggies than others, but all worked well.



I don't hold anything against the Winkler though...that bad boy is built for other applications! I practice some drills with that knife a few times a week and it's mean, mean mean! Love it!

I really like all these. I don't have a fully informed opinion of the Survive yet. When i first got it, I thought "Meh, I like the grind." As I started to use it I liked it though. Now, the more I use it the more I like it. It almost strikes me as a compromise between the Howling Rat and my LBK...good, tough woods knife. I have to wonder if it's as bullet proof as the Howler though. This is my second Howling Rat and I never got any edge damage on either.

The different read on a knife is just a different impression. When Gary and I were emailing about his results I told him I laughed when he said the handle on the Survive! was too big big....because I would rather the handle be thicker! lol I know as much as I love the Koyote, Gary would likely dislike it greatly..the handle is much bigger and it's pretty heavy!

At any rate- something to look at and read!

Here are all 4 for a size comparison.